Andrei Gromyko
( ) | religion= | birth= | death= | cause of death= | occupation=Politician, , | spouse=Lidiya Grinevich | children=Anatoli, Emiliya | family = | political party = | political office = , , }}Andrei Andreyevich Gromyko (Russian: Андре́й Андре́евич Громы́ко; Belarusian: Андрэ́й Андрэ́евіч Грамы́ка; 18 July 5 July 1909 – 2 July 1989) was a Soviet Belarusian communist diplomat and politician who rose to prominence primarily during the Cold War. He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs (1957–1985) and as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet (head of state of the USSR) (1985–1988). Gromyko was responsible for many top decisions on Soviet foreign policy. Gromyko's political career started in 1939 with his employment at the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs (renamed Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1946). He became the Soviet ambassador to the United States in 1943, leaving in 1946 to become the Soviet Permanent Representative to the United Nations. Because of his frequent use of the Soviet veto in the United Nations Security Council, he earned the nicknames "Mr. Nyet" and "Grim Grom". Upon his return to the Soviet Union he became a Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and later the First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. He went on to become the Soviet ambassador to the United Kingdom in 1952. During his tenure as Foreign Minister of the Soviet Union, Gromyko was directly involved in the Cuban Missile Crisis and helped broker a peace treaty ending the 1965 Indo-Pakistani War. Under Leonid Brezhnev's leadership, he played a central role in the establishment of detente with the United States through his negotiation of the ABM Treaty, the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, and SALT I & II, among others. As Brezhnev's health declined during the final years of his leadership, Gromyko formed a troika with KGB Chairman Yuri Andropov and Defense Minister Dmitriy Ustinov that increasingly dominated decision-making in Moscow. Henceforth, Gromyko's conservatism and hardline attitudes towards the West dictated the course of Soviet foreign policy until the rise of Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985. Following Gorbachev's election as General Secretary, Gromyko lost his office as foreign minister and was appointed to the largely ceremonial office of head of state. Subsequently, he retired from political life in 1988, and died the following year in Moscow. Andrei Gromyko in The Hot War }}Andrei Gromyko was the Soviet ambassador to the United Nations prior to the outbreak of World War III.Bombs Away, pg. 63, HC.See Inconsistencies in Turtledove's Work#Inconsistencies in The Hot War. He'd earned a reputation for being a "hard-nosed so-and-so", and was called "Grim Grom" and "Mr. Nyet." President Harry Truman reflected on Gromyko's reputation with press secretary Stephen Early after announcing U.S. atomic attacks against Manchuria on January 23, 1951.Ibid. Gromyko held the position as ambassador to the UN until after World War III ended in 1952.Armistice, loc. 6426, ebook. Andrei Gromyko in Worldwar Andrei Gromyko succeeded Vyacheslav Molotov as Foreign Commissar of the Soviet Union when Molotov became General Secretary following the death of Iosef Stalin. Gromyko, a protege of Molotov from their days together in the Foreign Commisariat, was one of Molotov's most important advisors during Molotov's General Secretaryship, and unlike Marshal Georgy Zhukov of the Red Army and Lavrenty Beria of the NKVD, was more or less trusted by Molotov.See, e.g., Second Contact, pgs. 16-19. Gromyko also shared Molotov's skill of maintaining an absolutely emotionless facade. Molotov depended on Gromyko to nearly the same extent Stalin had depended on Molotov. To that end, Gromyko was required to travel across the globe to other independent human powers, including the United StatesDown to Earth pg. 321. and Germany.Ibid., pgs. 343-344. Gromyko was particularly important to Molotov during the period immediately after Heinrich Himmler died and the German Reich appeared on the verge of civil war while Himmler's potential successors positioned themselves to take power,Ibid., pg. 345-346. and in the lead up to the Race-German War of 1965.Ibid., pgs. 445-447. He also supported Molotov's plan to side with the United States against a Race attack after the Race discovered the U.S. was responsible for the 1962 attack on its Colonization Fleet..Aftershocks, pg. 249. Gromyko held the position of Foreign Commissar into the 1970s. He was among the Tosevites present who personally bid Atvar farewell when the Fleetlord was recalled to Home in 1972.Homeward Bound, pg. 5. Andrei Gromyko in Joe Steele Andrei Gromyko was the Soviet ambassador to the United States in the late 1940s. In October 1949, Gromyko met with U.S. President Joe Steele about the situation in China. When Steele suggested using atomic weapons against Mao Tse-Tung's Reds, Gromyko said that he could not answer for what would happen to Rome or Paris. After consulting with his advisers, Steele opted not to use atomic bombs in China, and Mao was able to prevail there.Joe Steele, pgs. 376-377. References Category:Inconsistencies Category:Smokers